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A revolutionary effort to support on-farm conservation has added a new partner representing major agricultural companies, food companies and environmental groups. The new collaboration will accelerate the Soil Health Partnership’s leadership in helping farmers adopt practices that protect natural resources while potentially increasing profits.

At the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, the industry-leading companies and environmental organizations today announced the launch of the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative. Its goal is to support, enhance and accelerate the use of environmentally preferable agricultural practices.

The Midwest Row Crop Collaborative’s founding members include Cargill, the Environmental Defense Fund, General Mills, Kellogg Company, Monsanto, PepsiCo, The Nature Conservancy, Walmart and the World Wildlife Fund. The overall shared goal is to help achieve a 45 percent nutrient loss reduction by 2035 across the Upper Mississippi River Basin — chiefly nitrogen and phosphorus.

As part of this effort, the Collaborative has committed to raise $4 million over five years to augment the Soil Health Partnership, a farmer-led initiative of the National Corn Growers Association established in 2014.

With more than 65 farm sites already enrolled in nine Midwestern states, the new funding commitment recognizes SHP as the leader in field-scale testing and measuring of management practices that improve soil health. These practices include:

“Through healthy soil, farmers can play a major role protecting water quality and the environment—while also optimizing their crop yields and economic returns,” said Nick Goeser, director of the SHP. “We’re honored to welcome the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative to our program. Their support will amplify our research and communications efforts in helping farmers find practices that work best for them.”

The new alliance will help SHP achieve the goal of enrolling 100 farms a full two years earlier than planned. It also underscores SHP’s key milestones and early vision, a vision advanced by initial and continuing funding from Monsanto, Walton Family Foundation, NCGA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These early supporters helped form SHP’s operating and data collection structure, while recognizing common goals.

“As a farmer, I am committed to soil health because I know we have to constantly improve how we care for our land and how we farm it,” said Roger Zylstra, a farmer in Lynnville, Iowa enrolled in the SHP. “This funding commitment is significant to me because now we have more support from the large food and ag companies as well as environmental groups pushing for change. They’re showing us we don’t have to do it alone.”